President Joe Biden Reveals 2024 NCAA Men's and Women's March Madness Bracket Picks
Mike Chiari@@mikechiari
Featured Columnist IVMarch 20, 2024
United States President Joe Biden released his bracket selections for the 2024 NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments on Wednesday.
On the men's side, Biden has No. 1 seed UConn beating fellow No. 1 seed Houston in the National Championship Game, and he selected No. 1 South Carolina to take down No. 2 UCLA in the women's National Championship Game:
NCAA March Madness @MarchMadnessMBBPresident Biden's bracket! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> 🇺🇸<br><br>UConn 🏆<br>NC State 👉 Sweet 16 👀<br>3️⃣ 1-seeds making the Final Four 🙌 <a href="https://t.co/Dc1mn6Ib84">pic.twitter.com/Dc1mn6Ib84</a>
Barack Obama began the presidential tradition of a sitting president filling out and publicly sharing college basketball brackets, and Biden has carried it on since officially taking office in January 2021.
In terms of the Elite Eight and Final Four, there aren't many surprises in Biden's men's bracket, as he put No. 1 UConn, No. 1 Houston, No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Tennessee in the Final Four, and had no seed higher than a 4 in the Elite Eight.
Biden did select a handful of major upsets in the first round, though, including No. 13 Charleston over No. 4 Alabama and No. 12 McNeese State over No. 5 Gonzaga.
In his women's bracket, Biden has a No. 1 and No. 2 seed in his Final Four in South Carolina and UCLA, as well as No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 UConn.
Utah and Colorado were the highest seeds in Biden's Elite Eight in the women's bracket, as they are both a No. 5.
Biden had only one seed higher than a 10 winning in a first-round upset in his women's bracket, that being 12th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast taking down No. 5 Oklahoma and then shocking No. 4 Indiana in the second round as well.
Former President Obama also released his men's and women's brackets this week, and like Biden, he chose defending champion UConn to win the men's title and undefeated South Carolina to win the women's title:
Barack Obama @BarackObamaMy picks are in! I sat down to talk about them with <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigMalRob?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CraigMalRob</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UKCoachCalipari</a> on their podcast Ways To Win from <a href="https://twitter.com/HGMedia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HGMedia</a>. Check out our conversation wherever you get your podcasts. And please don't rub it in when my bracket gets busted. <a href="https://t.co/pVLfuHjYmo">https://t.co/pVLfuHjYmo</a> <a href="https://t.co/la2NTDh1z7">pic.twitter.com/la2NTDh1z7</a>
Biden is likely hoping to have a bit more success with his brackets than he did over the past couple of years.
Per Jason Owens of Yahoo Sports, Biden picked No. 2 Arizona and No. 4 Villanova to win the men's and women's titles, respectively, last season.
Arizona was shocked by No. 15 Princeton in the first round, while Villanova fell to No. 9 Miami in the Sweet 16. Biden's wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, attended Villanova.
In 2022, Biden went into full homer mode by picking his alma mater, the University of Delaware, to win both the men's and women's titles.
The No. 15 Blue Hens lost 80-60 to No. 2 Villanova in the first round of the men's tourney that year, and No. 13 Delaware fell 102-71 to No. 4 Maryland in the first round of the women's tournament.
After the two remaining First Four games are played Wednesday, the first round of the 2024 NCAA men's basketball tournament will start Thursday, followed by the first round of the women's tournament kicking off Friday.
B/R Recommends
NCAA, Power 5 Conferences to Allow Schools to Pay Players Directly After Settlement
EA College Football 25 Payouts for Alabama, Michigan, Texas All Schools Revealed
SEC Baseball Tournament 2024: Friday Schedule and Bracket Predictions
SEC Baseball Tournament 2024: Thursday Scores, Updated Bracket and Schedule
